R (on the application of R and others) v Child and Family Court Advisory and Support Service

The claimants’ cases had been chosen as representative claims from amongst a very large number of cases from a number of different areas of the country where there had been significant delays in the appointment of a guardian as a result of the defendant Child and Family Court Advisory and Support Service's (Cafcass) repeated failure to allocate guardians.

In each case, the claimants applied for judicial review. The claimants contended that Cafcass had failed in its duty to each of them because in each case the guardian had been appointed so late that s/he could not have effectively discharged his or her duties and responsibilities.

The Administrative Court accepted that Cafcass had been under a statutory duty in general terms to provide a scheme for the representation of children in care proceedings, but concluded that that duty did not extend to a specific obligation to ensure that a particular child in an individual case was represented.